Solutiones FIRST CHAPTER OF THE SOLUTION Of Dogmatic Questions

proposed to the most holy Cyril.

If the God over all, being named by the divine scripture as having hands, feet, eyes, and ears and wings, ought thus to be conceived by us, not in a human form as if the members were taken in a bodily sense—for he is incorporeal—but just as he is an essence, so also the things spoken of, being of his essence, are themselves divine members according to the essence.

SOLUTION.

THOSE who are of a sound mind, and cast the slender eye of their own intellect upon the words concerning the ineffable divinity, see it existing beyond every created thing, and rising above all sharpness of intellect and being completely beyond bodily imagination, and as the all-wise Paul says, "dwelling in unapproachable light." And if the light around it is unapproachable, how could anyone gaze upon it? For we see "in a mirror and in a riddle, and we know in part." The divine is therefore completely incorporeal, without quantity and without magnitude, and not in a describable form. 550 And how could that which is so in its own nature be conceived of as having parts and members? For if one were to grant this to be true, it is no longer conceived as incorporeal. For that which is in a shape at all, is surely also in some quantity, and that which is in quantity is also in a place; and that which is conceived in a place is not outside of circumscription. But these things are properties of bodies, and completely alien to the incorporeal nature. Therefore, one must not conceive of eyes or ears, nor indeed of hands and feet or wings in God, even if one should choose perhaps not to conceive such things as in tangible and dense bodies, but as in something subtle and immaterial, and according to the nature of God; for it is utterly foolish to wish to think of any such thing. For God is spirit; and being this, he has knowledge of all things, oversees and observes all things, and nothing of existing things escapes his notice. But if the divine scripture mentions parts or members, speaking to us about him, it must be known that it speaks to us in terms of what we know and are by nature. For it was not possible for us to conceive the things concerning God in any other way. The true cause and reason, therefore, for the God-inspired scripture to make discourses to us about God in a corporeal manner, is the poverty of our intellect and tongue. For the things concerning him are utterly ineffable; and it was not possible for those who are in tangible and dense bodies to be able to comprehend any of the necessary things, unless by receiving their own members in the manner of examples, we with difficulty ascend thus to subtle conceptions about God.

551 God formed man from the earth "and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a living soul."

And some say the soul was created by the in-breathing, as the body was by hands; others that that in-breathing became his soul; and still others that to the whole created man that in-breathing gave a life-giving power; others that this in-breathing is the intellect, and is distinct from the soul, and that this is what is "according to the image," so that man consists of these three, intellect and soul and body, specifically in union. And whether this in-breathing is proper to the essence of God or foreign to it.

Solutiones ΠΡΩΤΟΝ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΕΠΙΛΥΣΕΩΣ ∆ογματικῶν ζητημάτων

προτεθέντων τῷ ἁγιωτάτῳ Κυρίλλῳ.

Εἰ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸς χεῖρας, πόδας, ὀφθαλμοὺς, ὦτά τε καὶ πτέρυγας ἔχειν ὑπὸ τῆς θείας γραφῆς ὀνομαζόμενος, οὕτω παρ' ἡμῶν ὀφείλει νοεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἀνθρωποειδῶς ὡς ἐπὶ σώματος τῶν μελῶν λαμβανομένων· ἀσώματος γάρ· ἀλλὰ καθώς ἐστιν οὐσίας, οὕτω καὶ τὰ λεχθέντα τῆς οὐσίας ὄντα, μέλη θεῖα καὶ αὐτὰ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ὑπάρχει.

ΕΠΙΛΥΣΙΣ.

ΟΙ φρενὸς ὄντες ἐν καλῷ, καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῆς ἀῤῥήτου θεότητος λόγοις ἰσχνὸν

ἐνιέντες τῆς ἑαυτῶν διανοίας τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, ὁρῶσιν αὐτὴν παντὸς μὲν ὑπάρχουσαν ἐπέκεινα γενητοῦ, ὑπερανίσχουσαν δὲ καὶ παντὸς ὀξύτητα νοῦ καὶ φαντασίας σωματικῆς πέρα τε οὖσαν παντελῶς, καὶ καθά φησιν ὁ πάνσοφος Παῦλος "φῶς οἰκοῦσαν ἀπρόσιτον." εἰ δὲ ἀπρόσιτόν ἐστι τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν φῶς, πῶς ἂν αὐτὴν καταθρήσειέ τις; βλέπομεν γὰρ "ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καὶ αἰνίγματι, καὶ γινώ"σκομεν ἐκ μέρους." ἐστι τοίνυν ἀσώματον παντελῶς τὸ θεῖον, ἄποσον τε καὶ ἀμέγεθες, καὶ οὐκ ἐν εἴδει περιγράπτῳ. 550 τὸ δὲ οὕτως ἔχον ἐν ἰδίᾳ φύσει, πῶς ἂν ἐκ μορίων νοοῖτο καὶ μελῶν; εἰ γάρ τις δοίη τοῦτο ὑπάρχειν ἀληθὲς, ἀσώματον οὐκ ἔτι νοεῖται. τὸ γὰρ ὅλως ἐν σχήματι, πάντως που καὶ ἐν ποσῷ, τὸ δὲ ἐν ποσῷ καὶ ἐν τόπῳ· καὶ τὸ ἐν τόπῳ νοούμενον, οὐκ ἔξω περιγραφῆς. ταῦτα δὲ σωμάτων μὲν ἴδια, τῆς δὲ ἀσωμάτου φύσεως ἀλλότρια παντελῶς. οὔτε τοίνυν ὀφθαλμοὺς ἢ ὦτα, οὔτε μὴν χεῖράς τε καὶ πόδας ἢ πτέρυγας ἐπὶ Θεοῦ νοητέον, κἂν εἰ μή τις ἕλοιτο τυχὸν ὡς ἐν ἁπτοῖς καὶ παχέσι σώμασι τὰ τοιάδε νοεῖν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ἰσχνῷ καὶ ἀΰλῳ, καὶ κατά γε τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσιν· εὔηθες γὰρ παντελῶς τὸ βούλεσθαί τι τοιοῦτον ἐννοεῖν. πνεῦμα γὰρ ὁ Θεός· καὶ τοῦτο ὑπάρχων, πάντων ἔχει τὴν γνῶσιν, ἐφορᾷ πάντα καὶ κατασκέπτεται, λανθάνει δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν ὄντων οὐδέν. εἰ δὲ μορίων ἤτοι μελῶν ἡ θεία μέμνηται γραφὴ, πρὸς ἡμᾶς λαλοῦσα τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἰστέον ὅτι ἐξ ὧν ἴσμεν τε καὶ πεφύκαμεν εἶναι πρὸς ἡμᾶς διαλέγεται. οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἑτέρως ἡμᾶς νοεῖν δύνασθαι τὰ περὶ Θεοῦ. αἰτία τοίνυν καὶ πρόφασις ἀληθὴς τοῦ σωματικῶς περὶ Θεοῦ τοὺς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ποιεῖσθαι λόγους τὴν θεόπνευστον γραφὴν, καὶ νοῦ καὶ γλώττης ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ πτωχεία. ἄῤῥητα γὰρ παντελῶς τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἦν συνιέναι τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων δύνασθαι τοὺς ἐν ἁπτοῖς καὶ παχέσιν ὄντας σώμασιν, εἰ μὴ ἐν τάξει παραδειγμάτων τὰ ἑαυτῶν δεχόμενοι μέλη, μόλις οὕτως ἄνιμεν εἰς ἐννοίας ἰσχνὰς τὰς περὶ Θεοῦ.

551 Ἔκτισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ γῆς τὸν ἄνθρωπον "καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον

"αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν." καὶ οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐμφυσήματος τὴν ψυχὴν λέγουσι δεδημιουργῆσθαι, ὡς ὑπὸ χειρῶν τὸ σῶμα· οἱ δὲ ὅτι τὸ ἐμφύσημα ἐκεῖνο ψυχὴ αὐτῷ γέγονεν· οἱ δὲ ἕτεροι πάλιν ὅτι τῷ κτισθέντι ἀνθρώπῳ ὁλοκλήρῳ ζωτικὴν δέδωκε δύναμιν τὸ ἐμφύσημα ἐκεῖνο· ἄλλοι δὲ ὅτι ὁ νοῦς ἐστὶ τὸ ἐμφύσημα τοῦτο, καὶ διώρισται τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα, ὡς ἐκ τριῶν τούτων συνίστασθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, νοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἰδιαζόντως ἐν ἑνώσει. καὶ ἴδιον τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἢ ἀλλότριον τὸ ἐμφύσημα τοῦτό ἐστιν.